CATastrophic Miracle

[pgrahmm]

Tuesday started out like any ordinary day - but not for long.....

I had to run an errand & went to get my wallet off the nightstand....Not there.....

Tore the bedroom apart - no wallet....Usually I'll leave it in a cargo pant pocket & hang pants on a clothes tree, but since the CV thing we shower after every "crowded" outing.....

NO WALLET....Searched places all through that bedroom and the house in the unlikely possibility that it might have levitated somewhere somehow.....

The girls are asking about the last errands - 2 trips to Makro but neither time did I need it....Check the car - no wallet.....

Some major US credit cards, 4 debit cards, Thai DL (Land office closed), CA DL - can only be replaced in person - meaning cannot rent a vehicle IF we got to the U.S......But also no CC if I wanted to book a flight (moot point) but with no flights coming in, no CC can be sent here - my bank won't do DHL and sends debit cards + new pins in 4 separate snail mails.....Plus the real possibility somebody might be out there spending 10's of thousands of my dollars - basically, stranded and f#cked by circumstances....The Thai banks were easy, I just replaced the cards so they were secure & cash flow for here not a problem....But, my visa extension is next month & if something went sideways I'd be left with no flexible immediate finances - enough USD stashed to buy a flight if needed but limited options upon arrival somewhere with no U.S. CC show - assuming flights are resumed....

Basically - destination f#ckd - a pretty helpless feeling.....

Did I lose it? Pick pocket? No, I Would have noticed it missing....

 

Only possibility was I put/dropped it someplace inside the house.....4 people searching - NO WALLET & looking bleak.....

 

I looked at the nightstand & then at a bin next to it.....Our cat had taken to sleeping there some nights.....Told the wife I thought the cat knocked it off into the bin - only possibility left.....Garbage collection has been picked up that morning....The truck was done & gone.....

My wife called the municipal district.....They gave her the truck drivers phone number.....He told us we were house #5 on the route.....He said after the day was finished he could delay the transfer until this morning and gave us directions to the transfer station in Hang Dong.....He told us to be there by 0900....Gloves, long pants, covered up and thinking we'd be garbage diving....

We met the truck and the driver arranged for some other crew to be there...We were still not sure if the wallet was even there.....My wife brought a sample bag & showed how it was tied....We watched as they emptied each compartment.....They raked & checked bags as we pointed them out.....

Then, there it was, my Tommy Hilfiger wallet - with my $2 bill my Mom had given me decades ago for good luck, a 30+ year old picture of me - Social Security card & the credit & debit cards - everything somebody would need for identity theft....A few thousand baht too.....

It stunk but it pretty much protected everything inside...The baht was already showing mold....My 20? year old Tommy wallet died a heroic death....

The Thai guys loudly cheered when it was found.....They were concerned and really wanted to help and it ended up well....They wouldn't take money, however, I pressed a couple of thousand baht in the drivers hand and told them beer for everyone.....

They were genuinely happy to have helped....Smiles all around.. ....It was a very uncertain 24 hours...

 

Whew

 

 

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by pgrahmm

[tifino]

cheers!! - a 20 seconds hand scrubbing after handling wallet well deserved

[CharlieH]

Good story, nice ending ! 

Glad you were able to avoid the difficulties that would have lay ahead for you.

 

Edit:

 

Going forward, move the bin away from the nightstand ! ????????

[Crossy]

4 minutes ago, tifino said:

cheers!! - a 20 seconds hand scrubbing after handling wallet well deserved

 

I think I might go for rather more the 20 seconds

 

But an excellent result none the less ????

 

[Lacessit]

I've had that sinking feeling myself, when a bus at an overseas conference I was attending took off with my briefcase, and passport inside the briefcase.

Or when I was told by the Spanish embassy in Canberra I did not need a visa for Spain, being surrounded by 4 large Guardia Civil guys toting sub-machine guns when I landed in Madrid.

Happy ending for the OP in one use of the term.

[AtlasAus]

Great outcome

[chickenslegs]

Nice photo - which one is you?

????

[1FinickyOne]

Bad luck? Or was it good luck? 

 

Glad your efforts were rewarded... sell the cat. 

[Lacessit]

55 minutes ago, chickenslegs said:

Nice photo - which one is you?

????

Time for an appointment with SpecSavers.

[pgrahmm]

1 hour ago, Crossy said:

 

I think I might go for rather more the 20 seconds

 

But an excellent result none the less ????

 

We did alcohol gel hand washes when we got to the car....

Got home & showered......

[Kwasaki]

2 hours ago, pgrahmm said:

Then, there it was, my Tommy Hilfiger wallet - with my $2 bill my Mom had given me decades ago for good luck, a 30+ year old picture of me

So glad for you, can't remember how many times I've miss-placed my wallet and how lucky I've been leaving it in places and finding it.

[Puchaiyank]

Great story...happy, if not smelly ending!

 

Got to airport to take my flight back to Thailand after a holiday visit with the grown children when much to my horror my wallet was missing...PANIC!

 

Seems my daughter was distraught about her father returning to Thailand so the 5 year old granddaughter hid the wallet in her bedroom hoping that would somehow keep me from going.

 

Thai immigration bs has now done what my granddaughter could not...